Future In The Past
by Kookalaka
Summary: Laguna is thrown into the future by a freak accident and has to save Balamb Garden and the rest of the world from a terrible disaster by returning to the past and warning Squall and the gang about the future. Parings include ZellQuistis, SelphieIrvine.
1. The Darkness Upon Them

**Chapter One: **

**The Darkness Upon Them**

Laguna Loire's footsteps echoed against the floor of Balamb Garden's empty corridors.

That is, what was left of the Garden.

The fountain he remembered from his visit with Ellone which surrounded the walkways of the Garden with crystal-clear water spouting from the fish-shaped statues just below the upper level corridor was now empty. Some of the fish fountains were blasted away, possibly by magical projectiles, and moss had started to grow over the others. The pools were empty, and the porcelain tiles on their bottom were scratched, smouldered with fire and shattered. The elevator which lead to Headmaster Cid's office was broken, and the passage to the Training Centre was caved in.

The floor Laguna walked on was specked with blood. Bodies of SeeDs lay against the railing which separated the pools from the walkway, and some had fallen in. The signs which had directed Balamb's students to areas of the Garden were smashed, and the lights blinked.

_What happened here?_

Laguna then noticed something familiar. Or, rather, _someone_.

He was lying on his back, his gunblade beside him, broken in two at the middle. Laguna knelt beside him and felt his pulse. As he suspected, there was none. There was a wound on the left side of the man's chest surrounded with dried, coagulated blood. The man's expression had, even in death, remained cocky and self-assured. He probably didn't know that he was going to die until it happened.

_Seifer Almasy.  
_

The infamous knight of the sorceress Edea, who, after Ultimecia's fall, repented and got back to Balamb Garden. As far as Laguna had heard, his Instructor had finally given up on installing some manners into Seifer's head, and declared him a SeeD so that he would finally stop pestering the Instructor.

_If Seifer wasn't able to fight off whatever killed him...  
__  
__  
_The path Laguna followed lead to the Library. The shelves were almost empty, and those books which were still here were thrown to the floor and looking like something had gnawed at them - scavengers of whatever species must have been here before him. In the corridor before the Library Laguna found two more familiar bodies.

She was lying on her face, turned towards the main hall, and there was a sword wound in her back. Laguna didn't need to turn her over to recognise her: the silver hair and royal blue suit were a dead give-away.

_Fujin._

Seifer's other accomplice, Raijin, was only a few feet behind her; he too lay on his back, his shredded and broken staff by his side. They must have ran to Seifer's help, but the arrogant idiot must have thought that he could take on the enemy by himself. He proved himself wrong, for the last time.

The Library itself, bizarrely enough, was empty. Laguna didn't find any bodies, just the general havoc and state of decay as in the rest of the Garden. There were, however, some scratch marks in the middle of the room where the bookcases had been pulled away, as if something huge stood there and was dragged away afterwards. Gouge marks, he now noticed, led from the centre of the room all the way to Seifer's body, and then they vanished into thin air.

He went back to the Library, and saw something that he had missed before: another body was in the furthest corner of the room, huddled into a ball as if she had been sleeping when she died. The girl wore a SeeD uniform; the yellow bow was loosened and her head was resting on her knees, her face hidden behind a veil of short, chestnut-coloured hair. A pair of nunchuks that she had been holding in her hand had fallen to the floor and were laying in a heap. The only thing which revealed the girl was dead was the fact that her skin had gotten slightly blue and swollen.

_Selphie Tilmitt.  
_

Laguna had met the childish SeeD with a bubbly personality once, and she reminded him of Ellone when she was young so much that his throat clenched looking at Selphie's corpse. He quickly walked out of the Library, but he couldn't get rid of the lump in his throat or the growing feeling of dread rising in his stomach.

_What destroyed the Garden? Couldn't Cid stop it? And Squall..._

Squall! Laguna ran through Balamb Garden, passed the Cafeteria, the Quad, the Dormitories and the Car Park, but he didn't find Squall - or his body - anywhere. He must have survived the attack, Laguna assured himself. Squall was the most skilled fighter he knew, both in hand-to-hand combat, magic usage and handling the Guardian Forces.

_He __can't_ be dead...!  


Then Laguna realized there was yet one area he hadn't checked. The Infirmary. Not having any time to waste, he jumped across the railing into the pool and ran across it. With limited difficulty and some cursing because he was in a hurry, he scrambled across the railing on the other side - the time spent at the Galbadian Army had proven useful - and ran towards the Infirmary.

The number of bodies was the largest here and Laguna, literally, had scarcely enough space left to walk. All SeeDs... no sign of any of the attackers, whoever they were.

The door of the Infirmary was half-closed. The motion sensors which would normally trigger the door open weren't working, so Laguna wedged at the door with his weight and pulled it open.

The doctor's room was almost empty. The body of doctor Kadowaki was lying at her desk, face down, blood split all over the desk. Some of it had dripped down to the floor and Laguna only just stopped himself from slipping on it and falling down. In the room where the only hospital bed was, he found two more people.

The man had been sitting on a stool beside the bed, holding the hand of the person who lay on the bed. His spiky blonde hair was ashen and dusty, and his head was standing at an odd angle with the rest of his body. He was wearing his usual clothes, not the SeeD uniform. His face was turned towards Laguna, and he clearly saw the black tattoo on the man's face and his open periwinkle-blue eyes, staring at him.

_Zell Dincht._

When he recognised the man, it was clear who the woman on the bed was, even though Laguna had never met her in person. He remembered when he first came with Ellone to Balamb Garden, how the woman on the bed was somehow always busy and couldn't afford the time to get acquainted with Laguna. Her golden hair was let loose and she was lying on the bed dressed in what appeared to be a plum-coloured nightgown. A hand was lying on her chest, and the other one was cradled in Zell's strong one - he had persevered his firm grip even in death. The woman on the bed was deathly pale, and only the ice-cold temperature of her skin told Laguna that she was really dead.

_Quistis Trepe.  
_

They were all dead. Squall wasn't here, and Laguna didn't know how he got there. He didn't know how he was going to get out, either. All he remembered was a fight with one of Ultimecia's remaining followers, and how the man had fired some kind of magic at him, and then he found himself here. He felt the massive power of death an d destruction all around him press on, choking him and making him feel claustrophobic. He needed to get some air before the feeling got stronger.

Laguna went to the Quad and sat under a tree. He inhaled the night air deeply, trying to forget their dead faces, the betrayed look in Zell's eyes, Seifer's contemptuous frown and his broken gunblade, Selphie's little body cooped up in a corner, so like Ellone when she was sad or hurt...

Something pricked Laguna's palm as he laid his hand on the grass. He yelled with amazement and picked the item up. It was some kind of a pad or a remote control which contained nothing but a single green button. He pushed it.

The contraption sprung from his reach and fell onto the stones. It whizzed, and Squall's form appeared in thin air, blurry around the edges. He was carrying his gunblade, his clothes were torn in places and the scar on his face was evident against his pale complexion.

"Squall" Laguna yelled. Squall, appearing not to notice Laguna, started speaking.

"_This is a recorded message,_" he said, and Laguna saw that it was a hologram. "_Laguna, if you're here and listening, pay attention! I haven't got much time. Ultimecia's alive. Her forces have attacked the Garden and are destroying it as I speak. One of her followers sent you forward in time, attempting to kill you. Listen! You must return to the past and fix this! Save Balamb Garden! The free world depends on it! This Garden is the only remaining one which still defies Ultimecia in her attempts of world domination. Both Galbadia and Trabia Gardens are under her command._" Squall's hologram looked around and the image blinked, as if the transmission was feeble. "_Go to the past using this device,_" Squall said. "_Go to Timber and find Zell and Irvine, tell them about this! They'll know what to do. Remember, Rinoa mustn't..._" At this point, the image buzzed, faded and shut down completely.


	2. Sunrise

**Chapter Two: **

**Sunrise **

Laguna stared at the strange device from which he had heard Squall's holographic message. Well, he had no choice. It was either risking and using that device or getting stranded in the future; and he didn't like the prospect of having to spend his life in this kind of future, with Balamb destroyed and the world in the hands of Ultimecia...

_Let's give it a shot...  
__  
_ He got up and picked up the remote. The button which was previously green had now turned red. Laguna pressed it, and felt like he missed a step going downstairs. Then all the colours faded and everything was blurred...

* * *

He was having a shower after a rough mission in the Galbadian Desert, something about catching some fugitive who escaped from their jail... it seemed like sand had got onto every inch of his skin... why the Galbadians needed SeeDs for the job was beyond him...

Then he heard, above the sprinkling of the shower, something hitting his punch bag, someone cursing loudly and falling to the floor. He put out the water, wrapped a towel around his hips and opened the bathroom door with a frazzled look.

"Kinneas, I thought I told you never to touch my stuff!", he said, and then saw that the man on the floor wasn't Irvine Kinneas. It was a man almost in his thirties, with long charcoal-black hair and light turquoise-green eyes. He was dressed in a tattered pair of trousers and a shirt.

"Laguna?" he said. Laguna rubbed his head and looked up. His eyes widened.

"_Zell?_ " Zell Dincht stood in front of him, still wet from the shower, his hair lying flat and water dripping down his neck, arms and legs, creating small puddles on the floor. To see Zell like this was fairly upsetting, since the last time Laguna saw him Zell was dead, his neck broken and his empty eyes staring...

"Hey man, s'up? You look pale," Zell said.

"What? Naw, it's nothing. I'm cool," Laguna replied.

"You sure? Want me to get you a glass of water or something?" Laguna got up and looked around the room. It was a single SeeD dormitory, a bit larger than the usual rooms. An open bag with clothes thrown pell-mell around it lay on the bed, Zell's gloves on top of the pile. Outside the window, he saw that the sky was slowly changing from grey to shell pink. It was going to be dawn soon.

"Going somewhere?" he asked Zell, pointing to the pile on the bed.

"Nah, just got back from a mission. What's up with you, man?" Zell asked. "Bursting just like that into my room, without announcing that you were coming or anything."

"Did you go to Timber?" Laguna asked, fearing that he may be late. He looked at the device in his hand: it was broken. If he was too late, there was no coming back.

"Timber? No, Galbadia Desert."

"Look," Laguna said, "I need to talk to Squall. Is he around?" Zell shifted his weight a couple of times and stuck his fingers into the towel.

"He should be," he said. "I haven't seen him in a while, though. It'll be no use looking this early: he's probably snoozing, the lucky bastard. As is the rest of the Garden, except for me and Kinneas. What made you come here so early? I thought the old guy at the gates never lets anyone in before nine."

"It's a long story," Laguna said. "I'll explain it all to you as soon as I speak to Squall."

"Whatever turns you on," Zell said. "You can crash here if you like," he said, walked to the bed and tossed the things from it onto the floor. "I got... an arrangement. You'll be fine alone, right?"

"Sure," Laguna said. He could use some quiet time with his thoughts after all the things which happened to him.

"Cool." With that, Zell grabbed his usual clothes from the pile on the floor and vanished into the bathroom. He reappeared a few moments later, his hair spiky again, fastening one of his red-and-black tennis shoes. He waved good-bye to Laguna and went out.

* * *

Zell entered the Training Centre and walked towards the "secret meeting place" which was still called that by Balamb Garden's students, although the Instructors had discovered it ages ago. Headmaster Cid refused to block it up and explained that there had to be a place where "the students could forget their daily dilemmas", and that he himself had once had "an interesting adventure" in there.

_Snogging spot's a snogging spot forever.  
_

He walked towards the high railing and leaned on it. The terrace looked out onto the east, onto the sleepy main Garden building and the forest of Balamb beyond. The sky had now turned a pale red; the sun was rising.

"Zell Dincht," someone said. "You're late." Zell grinned inwardly. He didn't need to turn to recognise who it was.

"Glad to see you too," he said.

Quistis - for it was she who spoke - joined him and leaned against the railing, looking at the horizon. Zell turned his head away from the sunrise and looked at her. She was wearing her usual coral skirt and sleeveless vest, her hair raised to her head with a clip and two locks of honey falling down to her chest in her trademark hairstyle. He remembered how, three months ago, at the SeeD graduation ball, held after Ultimecia's defeat, Squall had beaten him in asking her out to the ball. He could still see the Trepies' angry expressions as Squall led Quistis dressed in a beautiful, deep red dress, down the stairs into the ballroom. He went out with the librarian girl with pigtails, but she was so ecstatic of finally having asked him out that she barely spoke a word and Zell went to talk to his friends. Somehow, he and Quistis ended up alone on the balcony and she told him that her feeling towards Squall were strictly sisterly... and they had been, more or less, dating ever since. He grinned boyishly and Quistis turned towards him.

"I thought we were here to look at the sunrise?" she said, grinning too, as the rising sun coloured her features beautifully. "Zell, you said you wanted to meet now. I thought you wanted to rest after the Galbadian mission." Zell leaned towards her and kissed her on the cheek. His warm lips left a moist trace on her face, but she didn't pause to wipe it off. Zell coiled his hands around the small of her back and pulled her close. He looked into her cornflower-blue eyes with his sapphire ones and saw her blush. His warm hands around her waist made her feel safe and wanted. Quistis took a long, breaking breath and looked towards the horizon with a kind of hope.

"Zell, the sunrise...?" she started. Zell raised a hand and caressed her soft jawline.

"It can happen without us," he said. His fingers brushed her delicate neckline, followed by his warm lips. Quistis didn't know whether to approve or to push him away. After all, only three months ago - it seemed like three days - she had thought of Zell as her friend: not quite someone she could really identify with, rather a reckless, rash and childish overgrown boy. She laughed into Zell's mouth as he kissed her. He backed away and looked at her, smiling with his boyish charm.

"What?" he said. "Am I doing anything wrong?"

"Not at all," she said. "I was just thinking; you haven't changed at all, Zell Dincht." He tapped her nose with his finger and kissed the spot where it had been.

"I'll take that as a compliment," he said and kissed her again.

* * *

Two hours later, Balamb Garden was slowly waking up. The women working in the Cafeteria had began preparing the hot-dogs, the Garden Faculty turned on the lights, the Library Committee member dragged themselves towards the Library, yawning slightly, and the disciplinary committee was already prowling the walkways and Garden areas, telling off anyone who did something which didn't suit them.

Zell returned to his dormitory, his collar loosened and his hair slightly ruffled, looking a bit glassy-eyed but full of adrenalin. He was surprised to see Laguna on the exact spot where he had left him.

"Man, you didn't sleep at all?" Laguna shook his head. "You must have a heck of a metabolism," Zell said and started practising his hits on the punch bag. Laguna stood up from the bed and walked to the door.

"I'm going to find Squall," he informed Zell. The SeeD was too busy concentrating on his hits and didn't hear him, so Laguna just left the dormitories.

The walkways of Balamb Garden were crawling with students going to classes, off to the Training Centre, to SeeD missions, or just strolling about. Laguna's throat clenched at the thought that they would all be dead if he didn't do something. Brooding on this, Laguna didn't see where he was going and only noticed that he collided with someone when she said:

"RAGE!" Laguna snapped from his musings and saw Fujin looking at him angrily with one red eye. "SEIFER. VIOLATOR!" She said. Almost at the exact same moment, Seifer and Raijin appeared by her side. The trio was exactly the same as Laguna remembered them: Seifer still wore his grey trenchcoat and his sly grin. The only thing missing his overall superior and gilt-edged appearance was his black gunblade Laguna had last seen lying next to his dead body, broken in two. Sometimes Laguna thought that Seifer deserved what he got.

"Well, well," Seifer said cockily. "Look what the cat dragged in. What are _you_ doing here?"

_Trying to save your butt from death, not like you deserve it, you big -  
_

"I'm here to see Squall." Laguna said.

"The commander?" Raijin said. "He's busy. Directing an important mission to Timber, ya know. Ordered not to disturb him, ya know?"

"Shut up," Seifer ordered. "What do you care where he is? We, the disciplinary committee, have to punish you for harassing one of our members."

"Harassing her? I just bumped into her! Anyway, I'm not even a student here!"

"That doesn't matter," Seifer said, his nasty grin spreading. "The Garden Code Of Conduct states that any physical or mental fulmination by a member of the Garden or by a visiting guest is prohibited and should be punished according to the judgment of the disciplinary committee of the said Garden."

"That means we gotta throw you in the brig, ya know?" Raijin said.

"Really?" Laguna said skeptically. "I'll bet that you've just invented that rule."

"Fujin," Seifer said. "Apprehend him."

"AFFIRMATIVE!"

"What's going on here?" someone else said. A cloud passed over Seifer's face as he frowned. Fujin, seeing his expression, turned around. Laguna glanced over her shoulder and saw Quistis Trepe in her SeeD uniform, her hands crossed over her chest, not looking pleased at all. "Seifer, you're a SeeD now," she said, "You should learn to act like one."

"He was breaking protocol, ya know," Raijin said. Fujin turned her back on Quistis with a defiant: "... IGNORE."

"How?" Quistis rounded on Raijin. "By bumping into Fujin? That can happen to anybody, but that's _not_ a valid reason to throw someone in the brig." She looked at Seifer again. "I thought you were already above the level of bullying people for no reason, Seifer." Seifer frowned, but didn't say anything. Quistis looked at Laguna and smiled, which made her face instantaneously more beautiful. "Will you walk with me?" She asked him. "We need to talk."

Laguna joined Quistis and they walked through the Quad. The crowd was thinner here and they were able to walk freely without having to sidestep out of someone's way every few minutes. For a while, they walked in silence, each in their own thoughts, and then Quistis started talking.

"Zell told me that you came before dawn," she said. _How did Zell have the time to tell her, _ Laguna thought, _when I've just left his dorm? ... He __did_ say he had an arrangement... "What's the occasion?" she asked him.

"Nothing good," Laguna told her. "I've just returned from the future..."

"The dream world again?" Quistis asked, because that kind of time-travelling wasn't unfamiliar to her.

"No," Laguna said, "something completely different..." And he told her all about what he had seen. The images had sat in his mind for so long, and he really needed to share them with someone. Quistis didn't interrupt him or ask any questions, she just let him talk. Laguna tried to skip the part when he had seen her and the others dead: hearing about your death, no matter how far in the future, was not a pleasant prospect.

When he had finished, they walked on silence. Quistis was weighing out his words. Then she stopped walking and said:

"Well, if that could really happen, then we have to do something," she said. "A squad will be sent out to Timber in a day or so; I wonder if that was what Squall from the future meant? If he did, then the device sent you earlier, which I think is just as well, since you have more time... But how _much_ more? Either way, you have to go and talk to Squall _now_ . I don't know what he - the Squall from the future - wanted to say about Rinoa..." A jingle from the loudspeaker interrupted her as Headmaster Cid's voice echoed across the Garden:

"_Quistis Trepe, please report to the Headmaster's office. I use this opportunity to remind our students that all facilities except the Training Centre are out of limits after hours._ " The Headmaster coughed, and the loudspeaker emitted another jingle before it was shut down again.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

Hi folks! I've finally decided to speak! ... Expect all the following chapters to be this long, give or take a few pages. Did I disappoint you with the snogging scene? There'll be more, although I'll try focusing on the main plot... Yeah, the plot! What happens next? A new pairing, hot-dogs, hiding, sorcery, and a new SeeD mission! If you have any comments, critiques or rantings, PLEASE review! It means a lot to me! And also, tell me if I've done something wrong, e.g: "Squall/Rinoa/Zell/any other character would never do/say that!" Thanks! I love you, everyone who's reading!


	3. A Piece Of Cake, Really

**Chapter Three: **

**A Piece Of Cake, Really **

"Sssh! I can hear footsteps!" Selphie pressed a small hand onto Irvine's mouth as voices approached them. They lay in the bushes beside the path in the Quad, completely still.

"...go and talk to Squall _now_ . I don't know what he - the Squall from the future - wanted to say about Rinoa..." It was Quistis. Selphie heard another pair of footsteps; a man's... There was a jingle from the loudspeakers and Cid's voice boomed:

"_Quistis Trepe, please report to the Headmaster's office. I use this opportunity to remind our students that all facilities except the Training Centre are out of limits after hours._ " Another jingle, and the speakers were silent. The footsteps shifted, and Selphie heard Quistis say:

"We'd better go now. I have to hurry. Take care!" And her footsteps went running away. A few seconds later, the man's footsteps followed her. Only when they were out of earshot did Selphie remove her hand from Irvine's mouth, just to find him slightly frowning.

"What's wrong?" she said.

"Apart from the fact that you've pushed me into the bushes, probably stained my coat, demolished my hair, and are lying on me? Nothing." Selphie grunted and rolled off of him. "I wouldn't mind you lying on me in future occasions, though," Irvine said. "Why do we have to keep on hiding around?" Selphie didn't reply, but stood up and brushed grass and dirt from her SeeD uniform. She looked around, and when there was nobody in sight, went on her way towards the Garden. Irvine stood up, sighed, straightened his hat and followed her.

"You're sulking," he said.

"I am not," Selphie replied, not stopping.

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"You _so_ are too."

"Listen, you-" Selphie began, stopping abruptly. She turned around and bumped straight into Irvine. She cried as he grabbed her hips and pulled her close. She looked with narrowed eyes into his ocean-blue ones. He smiled.

"I told you - you were sulking." Selphie bit her lip and looked back into his eyes, her tight muscles loosening in his arms. "You're not angry with me, are you?" She shook her head. He pulled her ever closer, and soon his hands were behind her neck, tilting her head up. Selphie stood on tiptoe, although there was little need for that. She liked standing on tiptoe while kissing Irvine. It made her feel like they were even closer, their bodies melding together... As his tongue played with her own, panicky thoughts crossed through her mind:

_"Students are reminded all facilities except the Training Centre are out of limits after hours"... They know? Someone could be watching!  
_ _  
_ With the speed of lightning, she detached herself from him. Irvine didn't have the time to ask what was wrong when she blurted out:

"They saw us! Yesterday, in the Library! Someone saw us! That's why Cid said that students are reminded all areas are out of limits after hours! They must have seen us!"

"Heey... relax," Irvine said to her. "What does it matter if anyone saw us?"

"You don't understand!" Selphie said.

"No I don't!" Irvine said.

"If you don't understand, then there's no point in me telling you!" Selphie said, turned away from him, and ran towards the Garden. She nearly smacked into Zell, who was just on his way to the Quad, finishing a hot-dog. Zell stopped in his tracks and turned around, following Selphie with his gaze until she disappeared behind the corner.

_What's up with her...? Anyway..._

"Hey, Kinneas!" Zell said, licking his fingers from the hot-dog. "Squall wants us in his office."

"What for?" Irvine asked.

"New SeeD mission, that's all he said. Don't know what's up with him lately. He never tells us anything anymore, you noticed that?"

"Yeah," Irvine said. "Guess you can't blame him, after Rinoa broke up with him and everything. Damn, that was one _ugly_ break-up... I hope I never see anything like _that_ again." Squall and Rinoa had broken up at the night of the SeeD graduation ball, exactly a fortnight after Ultimecia was killed. Nobody actually knew the words they exchanged, but shouting and the sounds of a lot of objects being smashed upset the Garden's students deep into the night. In the morning, Rinoa packed her bags and marched through Balamb Garden defiantly, not looking back. Squall had tried to stop her at the gates, but, according to rumour, she pushed him aside without even looking at him and was on her way back to Timber. Nobody, not even Squall's closest friends knew the reason of their break-up.

* * *

Zell and Irvine entered Squall's office. A wide desk stood facing away from the window which looked onto the facilities of Balamb Garden, and further away, towards the mountains. Squall was sitting at his desk, dressed in his SeeD uniform, his chair turned towards the window, looking at the mountains. Zell shifted his weight a couple of times, the way he used to do when he was impatient or feeling guilty.

"Um... Squall?" he began. "We're here, like you said. S'up?" Squall turned away from the window and looked at them. He then frowned, like there was still someone missing. "You only told me to bring Kinneas along," Zell said.

"Yeah," Squall spoke. "I think he'll be around soon. OK, then. Headmaster Cid's asked me to inform you of you next mission. Balamb Garden's got a message from Timber. Apparently, some of Ultimecia's followers are still alive, and one of their headquarters is in Timber." Squall picked up a ball pen from his desk and fiddled with it, avoiding their eyes. "The possibility that the sorceress is alive isn't excluded. SeeD have been asked to send a squad there in order to help the local government battle and eliminate Ultimecia's followers."

"You mean, she could still be alive?" Irvine said, disbelieving.

"Yes," said Squall.

"Oh, if she's alive, she's gonna get a _major_ whoopin'!" Zell said and punched his fist in the air.

"Zell, calm down," Squall said. "As I was saying-" At that moment, the door slid open and Seifer walked in. He stood at the door and arrogantly swept the room with his gaze. His eyes rested on Squall as he frowned.

"What, is that all?" he said. "Chicken-wuss and his new boyfriend is all I get?" Zell immediately rounded on Seifer, baring his teeth and clenching his fists.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?" he yelled. "Say that again!" Squall stood up and slammed his fist on the table while Seifer chuckled to Zell's angry face.

"Break it up!" Squall shouted. "I don't expect you three to go matey-"

"You bet we won't!" Seifer and Zell said, and eyed each other angrily.

"-but at least try to accomplish the mission without jumping at each other's throats every now and then!" Squall finished. "Seifer will be your squad leader. Zell, before you argue," Zell had already turned to Squall and opened his mouth to protest, "you gotta see that Seifer's the most experienced with Ultimecia."

"Why aren't you going?" Irvine said. "You're as experienced as him any day." Seifer didn't say anything, just crossed his hands over his chest, like this conversation was irritating him.

"Because I've got some business here," Squall said, not looking him in the eye. "Besides, Headmaster Cid's leaving for Trabia in a few hours, and there has to be someone to take care of the Garden while he's away." Squall then looked up and looked at them each in turn. "You'll be leaving with the train from Balamb Station in three hours, so I suggest you start packing." When Squall stated that the discussion was over, Seifer was the first to reach the door and leave.

* * *

"SEIFER, LEAVE?"

"I wouldn't worry if I were you. It's going to be a piece of cake, really," Seifer said to Fujin, resting the hand holding his black unsheathed gunblade on his shoulder. Fujin and Raijin stood, along with Zell and Irvine, at Balamb Garden's main entrance, waiting for the car which was going to take them to Balamb.

"We're gonna make sure that no one breaks protocol while you're away, ya know?" Raijin said.

"You do that," Seifer said. A yellow mini van pulled by them with a screech of tires and the door popped open.

"Come on!" Irvine said and he and Zell went in the car. Seifer stood a moment longer, eying Raijin and Fujin, but when they had nothing more to say, he too turned away and went into the car.

When Seifer came in he saw, apart from Zell and Irvine, someone he recalled Squall didn't assign to the mission. Quistis Trepe was sitting opposite an empty seat, dressed in her usual attire, her whip lying on her lap, looking distractedly through the window. Obviously, the Chicken-wuss had taken the seat next to her. To Seifer's irritation, there were no empty seats left, so he took the one opposite Quistis. When he did, she averted her gaze from the window and looked at him sternly with her cornflower-blue eyes.

"Put your gunblade away before you poke someone in the eye, Seifer," she said. "Or worse." Seifer grinned in his trademark way.

"Don't worry, Inst- _Quistis_ . The only way I could harm anyone is on purpose," he said.

"Exactly what I mean," she said, not returning the grin. "Put it away, Seifer." He wanted to argue, but just grunted and sheathed the gunblade.

The short trip passed in silence. Even Zell had nothing to say, but just flexed his muscles and cracked his joints. He pulled on his gloves and started opening and closing his fists to exercise his fingers. Seifer stared out of the window at the landscape swishing past, wondering why the _hell_ did he agree to lead this mission. It's not like he had some benefit from it. Sure, there would be a lot of fighting involved, and Seifer loved fighting.

_Wimps... let them come! I'll defeat them all, without any help! Let them give me their best shot! I'm ready for them! Heh heh heh... they'll see!  
__  
_ "Seifer?" He snapped from his thoughts and saw Quistis looking at him. "We've arrived." That was true; he and Quistis were the only ones left in the car. Outside, Zell was standing on the sunny Balamb street, grouchily looking in. Seifer stood up and gently - ___Gently?_ he thought, _What on Earth...?_ - pushed Quistis aside. He jumped out of the car and his boots hit the sidewalk. The fresh and salty sea air entered his lungs, and as he breathed it in, another grin crossed his face.

_Let the fighting... begin!_

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

wh00t! End of chapter three! You still interested? You'd better be, because in the next chapter... things really start happening, ya know? g Have you noticed that I haven't introduced Rinoa to the plot yet, not actively? ... Heh heh heh. Patience, patience.


	4. Here In My Garden Of Magic

**Chapter Four: Here In My Garden Of Magic**

"Seifer. " Someone called. Seifer turned around in the dark Timber alley, creating only a soft murmur of his trenchcoat and a swish as his gunblade sliced the air. It was a woman's voice which called to him. Somehow familiar... He looked around. There was nobody there, and the others hadn't noticed anything.

"Over here. " The voice whispered. Strangely familiar, although he couldn't name it. Seifer then isolated the sound: it was coming from a run-down building whose entrance was boarded up.

"I'm going to check out this building," he said to the others and turned to tear away the planks which were blocking the door.

"Someone should go with you," Quistis said.

"Are you kidding!" Seifer hissed, his eyes narrowing as he looked at her savagely. "I can manage on my own! And I'm the captain. I get to decide who goes where."

"It's your funeral," Irvine said and shrugged.

"You, Kinneas, are gonna stand watch outside in case anything happens to me," Seifer said. "Not like I need your back-up, but you gotta feel involved sometimes." Irvine frowned and leaned against the wall beside the door. Quistis stood for a second, undecided, and then she said:

"Zell and me will talk to the guards at the city gates. They may know something more than they're showing."

"Go ahead," Seifer said. "See if I care." Quistis narrowed her eyes and looked like she was about to snap at him, but she bit back her words.

"Fine then," Zell said, annoyed. "Let's go, Quistis."

When they were out of earshot, Quistis groaned in exasperation.

"What's with him lately?" she said. Zell laughed.

"Lately? Come on, Quisty, he's been like that forever ," he said.

"No, he's different..." Quistis looked up at the sky and squinted as the late afternoon sun hit her face. It was descending, and it would be dusk soon. "He's... not like himself anymore. Sure, he tries to maintain his image of a big, tough, rough guy who doesn't need anyone's help and can kick anyone's ass, but sometimes he drops his guard and softens down. For example, when I told him to put his gunblade away, he obeyed. The old Seifer, the one I know, would never do that. I wonder what's got into him..."

Seifer pulled some planks away from the door and threw them onto the street, creating a loud echo between the cramped walls of the alleyway. He could now see the padlock and the thick girder placed horizontally across the door. Some more planks were removed and thrown onto the floor with a noisy clatter.

"Hey!" Irvine said. "Keep it down, will you! Someone's gonna wonder what the noise is about and see us."

"No, they'll see you ," Seifer snapped back. "I'll be inside." He then raised his gunblade in the air over his head and prepared to swing.

"What the--?" Irvine said, "Hey, wait a second, you're not gonna--"

Seifer swung the gunblade, and it hit the padlock with an echoing clang, sending sparks flying. The padlock was almost broken; Seifer raised his gunblade again and prepared for another swing.

"Kinneas, I'll try to put this simple enough for your slow brain to understand," Seifer said to Irvine, his eyes glued to the padlock. "When I go in, whatever you hear, whatever happens, if you have a sudden urge to be a smart-ass: don't go in . Don't follow me. If you want to act a dumb hero, go rescue a kitten standing on a rock in the middle of a lava pool or something."

"But we've got orders," Irvine objected. "And there's also SeeD mission protocol; you can't just violate it like that."

"I do what I want," Seifer said. "I'm the captain, I'm the leader of this mission and I decide what we do. Got that?" He then swung his gunblade at the padlock. There was another clang: the padlock broke and fell to the ground. Seifer removed the girder from the door and yanked at the knob with his gloved hand. After some pulling, the door opened with a creaking sound. A rich musty smell splashed his face, and utter darkness seeped from the inside.

"You stay here," Seifer said to Irvine. "And try to be inconspicuous." With that, he stepped inside the building and slammed the door behind him. Irvine shrugged again and sat on the street floor, leaning against the building wall. He forced his hat down to his eyes, placed his rifle across his lap, his hand resting near the trigger.

Darkness. Just thick, black darkness and the musty smell which usually skulked around old attics and rotting cellars. Seifer could only hear the muffled sound of his footsteps on the wooden floor and the rustle of fabric as his unbuttoned trenchcoat moved around him. He squinted his eyes, but still couldn't make out anything in the complete darkness. Was this just a wild-goose chase? And then, he heard the voice again.

"Seifer. Here I am! "

A small, feeble light shone somewhere ahead. Seifer readied his gunblade as the light grew brighter. Soon the whole room was illuminated and Seifer saw something what he least expected.

Light draperies and silk curtains hung all over the room, so that its actual size couldn't be guessed. The musty smell was gone, to be replaced with a soft smell of lily-of-the-valley. The curtains were all white or a light beige colour, and gave the impression of a cozy cloud. He saw shadows moving here and there, silhouettes that may be people. Seifer held a firmer grip on his gunblade and frowned.

"Where are you? Come out, cowards!" he yelled. "Or are you afraid of taking me on!" He stepped forward into the draperies and the shadows fluttered and disappeared. The voice that had been calling him giggled, and then Seifer recognised it. The voice he heard so many times lovingly talking to Squall, laughing at Squall's attempts to dance, scolding Squall for his coldness and at the last day, yelling and crying at Squall before leaving him forever. Seifer's insides burned with jealous rage every time he saw them walking Balamb's corridors, hand in hand, smiling to each other, blissfully unaware of the rest of the world. He was downright jovial when they split up. He now saw her shadow behind one of the silk curtains, and he moved the curtain aside with a gloved hand, his gunblade still ready, just in case this was one of Ultimecia's scams.

When he removed the curtain, he saw that it wasn't. She looked exactly like three months ago when he had last seen her: her long, dark hair highlighted with strands of light brown to make it warmer, her almond-shaped, blue-grey eyes resting on her pale, heart-shaped face, her rosy mouth shaped into a smile. Only her clothes were different. She was dressed in a long, black dress fit tightly, showing her perfectly-shaped body, her cleavage deep enough to reveal the necklace with the ring she always wore. Long, bell-shaped sleeves hung all the way to the beginning of her fingers. She smiled at him and pointed to the gunblade in his hand.

"You won't need that, will you?" She titled her head to the side, the way she used to do, and look puzzled when Seifer still didn't sheath his gunblade. "Seifer. What is it?" She took his free hand in her two small ones and looked into his sapphire-blue eyes. Seifer was still frowning, not being able to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"Rinoa," he then said, pulling away his hand. "what are you doing here?" Rinoa didn't say anything, just continued looking at him. "We were told that Ultimecia's alive, and that she's supposed to be in here." Rinoa giggled again at his frown.

"Oh no, she's dead. Dead, stiff as a stone."

"Then what's all this... this meaningless decor?" It reminded Seifer of Edea's chambers, and that was a prospect he didn't like to consider.

"Well," Rinoa said, "this is where I live. You don't like it? Fine, I'll change it." She casually waved her hand and the curtains and draperies disappeared, only to be replaced by a rich meadow full of flowers in a myriad of colours, extending all the way to the periwinkle-blue horizon. Warm sunlight streamed from the sky.

"What the--!" Seifer shouted. Rinoa giggled softly.

"No? Alright then." She waved her hand again and the silk curtains were back.

"Rinoa, what...? How did you...?" It then dawned on him. "You're a sorceress?" She gave the smallest of nods and smiled. Seifer looked anew at her. "How?"

"I stole Ultimecia's powers before she died," Rinoa said calmly. Seifer hadn't noticed that she took his hand again, but now saw that she was holding it. "That's why I called you here: I knew something like Ultimecia's resurrection would trigger your emotions and you would immediately come rushing to Timber." She smiled. "Squall isn't here, is he? He wouldn't be. Seeing me again would probably hurt him too much." She stopped talking and looked thoughtful. "Seifer, have you ever loved me?" Seifer was so taken aback by the question it must have been visible on his face, because Rinoa almost giggled again. "I mean, we did date for a while. So it's only natural that I ask you that."

"We're not dating now. As I remember, you were with Squall." The harsh tone of his voice made her look hurt, but Seifer didn't care. "And we haven't got anything to talk about anymore, so why don't you go and play with your little magic?" He turned away from her and was starting to walk away. Anger crossed Rinoa's pretty face and she raised an arm towards him.

"You're wrong!" she said, and Seifer felt every muscle in his body freeze. He was completely rigid: he couldn't even blink, much less walk or fight. "We've got a lot to talk about, Seifer!" Seifer felt the muscles in his hand involuntarily relax, and he dropped his gunblade which fell to the floor with a clatter. Her footsteps echoed behind him, and she was now standing in front of him, looking angry; an expression Seifer had rarely seen on Rinoa's face.

"I know you feel something for me, Seifer," she said. "You can't hide your thoughts from me now, not anymore. You couldn't hide them from Ultimecia or Edea, remember?" Seifer did. He also remembered how good it felt to be kissing Rinoa, all those years ago. But this wasn't the Rinoa he loved; the woman in front of him was someone completely different, someone so alien, like he had never truly got to know her. "But you want to taste the feeling again; how good it felt being a sorceress' knight." She extended a hand and caressed his cheek. He wanted to turn away and slap her, make her wake up and become the Rinoa he knew. "Don't you feel like fighting again? Not SeeD, that's not real fighting. It never gives you the exhilaration that fighting for Edea did." Seifer had to admit that she was right. "You can fight for me," Rinoa said. "I can give you that back." He was just about to let her know that he agreed, when a floorboard to the right of them creaked. Rinoa turned around in a snap, but lost her concentration on Seifer and he felt he could move freely again. Before she realised what had happened, Seifer grabbed her hands so that she couldn't cast anymore spells.

Rinoa screamed, but he pinned her to the wall and put a hand over her mouth. Her chest rose and fell rapidly; she was hyperventilating, and Seifer saw that she was genuinely scared.

"I'll remove my hand, Rinoa, if you promise that you won't scream. If you don't obey, I will hurt you." Rinoa saw the anger in his eyes. He wasn't bluffing. She nodded, and Seifer removed his hand from her mouth, only to replace it on her wrist. The long sleeves had slipped down to her elbows in the struggle, and Seifer felt something strange under his hands. He averted his eyes from her face, and looked at her arms.

Bulging white veins rimmed with coal-black which looked like they didn't belong to Rinoa's own bloodstream meandered across her arms in mysterious patterns, ending at her wrists. With shock, Seifer remembered that he had seen the same veins on the left side of Edea's cheek. The only difference was that this was much bigger and more foreboding. Then a strange sound came to Seifer's ears. He looked at Rinoa, and saw that she had bent her head down, and tears were coming down her face, dropping on the dress and making it wet. His hands relaxed, letting go of her wrists, and she slid down to the floor, sobbing like there was no deliverance. She quickly pulled down her sleeves so the veins weren't visible anymore.

"I t-tried everything!" she sobbed. "But t-they j-just won't go away! Ultimecia is alive, S-Seifer, b-but she's very weak, and she needs someone t-to help her. A-and she called me, t-that night when Squall and me..." she gulped, "so I left, b-but I d-didn't know... I didn't know, I s-swear!"

"What didn't you know?"

"T-that this would happen! These... b-brandings!" Seifer frowned.

"You're lying. There's something more. What does Ultimecia plan, Rinoa?" She looked up at him like he was mentally ill.

"Lying? How..." she gulped again, "how can you think that! You think that I enjoy having these... these things ... all over me! You have no idea! You have no idea how it feels to be serving someone, wondering constantly if you're doing the right thing, if you chose the right side, what will happen to your friends afterwards! You, then again, wouldn't know, would you? You haven't got any friends!"

"That's right, I don't," Seifer said coolly. "I don't need any friends. I got me and my gunblade, and that's all I need in the world. Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to be a sorceress' knight. I wanted people to fear me. People like me don't make friends, don't you get it? We only make enemies. You think that Squall, Quistis, Zell, Selphie and Irvine are your friends?" Seifer was almost shouting now. "Think again! Sure, they were all mopey when you left, but did any of them do anything about it? NO! Squall sat and whimpered in his room for a week, and the others just said Ah well, life goes on, and went to get a hot-dog! You think they care! Hah! They've forgotten all about you and are just as happy as they were before you left!" Rinoa stared at him, wide-eyed. "You're so naive, Rinoa!" Seifer said. "You're better off alone than with any of them."

Seifer stood in front of her, looking down on Rinoa with a kind of a sad rage in his eyes. Rinoa hugged her knees and gazed into empty space, her eyes glassy, looking like she was going to cry again. In that split second, Seifer recognised in her the Rinoa he knew, before any of this started, almost a year ago, before they even knew about Edea, Ultimecia or their power struggle to dominate the world. At that moment, something happened to Seifer, like someone had flipped a long-forgotten switch in his heart.

He sat down beside her and grabbed her by the hand. A wicked smile grazed his lips and Rinoa knew what was coming. Seifer's other hand went behind her neck, right under her hair. And then he kissed her. Rinoa trembled. Squall didn't kiss like that. Squall never kissed like that. Being kissed by Squall was something you could laugh off, and Squall was always kissing like he was apologising for something. Being kissed by Seifer, on the other hand, was a deeply passionate act you could do nothing about but surrender to it. There was also viciousness and spite in it, like in everything Seifer did. She hadn't realized this before, but that was why she loved him.

What seemed like too soon, he separated their lips, looked at her and said in his deep voice: "Don't worry, Rinoa. I'll help you. We'll have our revenge on them!"

**

* * *

****Author's Notes:** You have NO IDEA how much trouble the last paragraph (the kissing) gave me. And I've realized that no matter how hard I try, I can't make Seifer lovable, gentle, understanding nor a nice character, because he's simply not like that. I'm really angry with myself about that and I don't like the last paragraph, not one bit. I hope this doesn't put you off from reading more! In the next chapter... you know what, I have no idea! I haven't even started thinking about it yet. Be good and review, OK? 


End file.
